zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Holy Crap, I'm At The Nürburgring 24 Hours To Overload Every Sense With Good Cars
Holy Crap, I'm At The Nürburgring 24 Hours To Overload Every Sense With Good Cars-November 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:15

On a normal day, the Nürburgring is heaven for car dorks. This weekend, over 200,000 racing fans—including me—will descend upon the ‘Ring to watch try to race for an entire day on the full 12.9-mile Nordscheleife course, and I can’t wait. My mind is slowly exploding from the awesomeness that awaits me at the Nürburgring 24 Hours race.

[ Porsche wanted us to check out the it will have in the race and some other fun stuff it is bringing along so badly, it flew me out to the Nürburgring. I’ll probably use the airline miles to go back to the Nürburgring, if we’re honest. Because Nürburgring.]

Doing one lap of the Nürburgring’s infamously long, twisty Nordschleife course is enough for most people. It’s a true bucket-list item if there ever was one—a space for car people to drive as balls-out as they want to without fear of getting arrested in the appreciative company of like-minded hoons.

But it’s not just any old race track—it’s full of tall trees, fast straights and tight, sometimes blind turns, which makes the thought of just one 12.9-mile lap a bit intimidating for your everyday car nut.

Now try driving that in the dark, with . While I found that one open “touristenfahrten” lap given that most traffic was polite and it was easy to spot the yabos who weren’t, the thought of driving hours upon end out there breaks my brain a little bit in the absolute best way.

Well, the Nürburgring 24 Hour race was fun for a few laps. While stormy weather was forecast,…

So, it’s not just the race I’m excited about. From rare cars and exotics to cars we don’t get in America to utter crapcans that get flogged within a millimeter of their mechanical tolerances, you see every conceivable form of vehicle on earth show up at the Nürburgring. It is a true cornucopia of wonderful mechanical things.

The campgrounds—some of which are more like full day-long parties—will probably be as interesting as the action on track. The fans manning those campgrounds are solidly our people. True Jalops, even if they don’t read this website. People who are passionate about cars, teams and the whole party related to those things.

And let’s not forget how rad the on-track action is. This isn’t a big-budget pro race like Le Mans or Daytona—it’s an extension of the grassroots VLN series that runs the ‘Ring all year. You get everything from big-budget GT3 efforts to an older, foxtail-wearing Opel Manta and numerous souped-up ‘Ring specials.

Competition for the is incredibly close among those ultra-fast GT3 cars, and they’re out there with teams of fairly regular dudes. Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus even to dominate this race. At the other end, you’ve got Cup-spec Toyota 86s not too far off from the one in the World Racing League race in Houston.

This is—conceivably—something you, a regular person, could even attempt if you hoarded money away for it, and it would be worth multiple months of eating ramen and leftover catered sandwiches at the track to say “I did that insane ‘Ring race.”

Out of everywhere I’ve ever been, the Nürburgring is the where I’m most likely to move if I win the lottery and/or strike oil in Mom’s yard. Ask me for romantic honeymoon suggestions, and I’ll probably tell you to go run the ‘Ring until you both barf. It’s an exceedingly difficult race track nestled among scenic rolling hills, which means it’s perhaps the most perfect place on earth. I’m off to see Germany’s premier grassroots-to-GT3-level race on it, and I couldn’t fathom of a better way to spend a weekend.

It’s my first time at this race weekend, which I’ve heard is so wild that the cars almost disappear in the crowd for the grid walk before the race. Where should I go? What should I see? And most importantly, what would you like to see from the ‘Ring this weekend?

Watch this space and for a deluge of vehicular win this weekend.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
If you follow racing in the U.S., you probably already know about the . Most of the episodes are too much of a distraction to put on as background noise while you work, but a couple of recent entries in his series have been working incredibly well for me....
Nov 1, 2025
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
The partially North Carolina-based squad has determined that after , it needs to mix things up a little. The team’s firebrand has been following an abysmal 2023 season which saw the team score just four points-paying finishes. The team’s , where scored a fourth-place finish, but that season too...
Nov 1, 2025
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Fellow nerds, get ready to open your wallets, because I’ve found what may be the greatest store of all time. With designs from Formula 1 teams like , you’re sure to find something that fits your particular nostalgic niche. I’d like to introduce you to Racing Retro. I first...
Nov 1, 2025
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were...
Nov 1, 2025
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
In another unsurprising example of motorsport’s inhospitable mindset toward hiring competent women, the Racing team has announced a new partnership with Ava Rose, a literal , who will... engage with fans? Share knowledge about technology? “Navigate the cutting edge of innovation to create positive change” (whatever that means)? I...
Nov 1, 2025
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
Name a car from the early 1960s built by a famed racing driver with curvy, lightweight aluminum bodywork, a big American engine, and a reputation for being unruly and fast as all hell. Your first thought was probably the famed Shelby Cobra, did you know there was a who...
Nov 1, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved